TOPEKA – Calling education “the driver of the Kansas economy in the 21st Century” Jim Barnett, candidate for the Republican nomination for governor, today released a detailed plan for accelerating education excellence in Kansas.
“I have organized my education agenda into three basic categories,” Barnett said. “These are what I call the ABCs of education excellence in Kansas.”
“A is for Advancing early childhood development,” Barnett said. “Up to 25% of our children under-perform in the classroom and there are steps we can take at an early age to remedy this. Nothing will help early childhood achievement more or break the cycle of generational dependence on welfare and other programs, like making progress in this area.”
“There are individual school systems in Kansas that have found ways to do this on their own, in part by combining existing programs together in new and better ways, Barnett said. “As governor, I will make improved childhood development a statewide effort, so all school districts in the state can benefit from knowing what works and learning best practices to make progress.”
A key part of better child development is overcoming adverse childhood events or experiences. Things like neglect, abuse or even sustained lack of parental interaction, that occur in the early years of childhood can mark kids for life if not remedied. Making progress here has the added benefit of reducing longer term problems like addiction, mental health and other issues that stem from the adverse early childhood events.
“B means Be out of Court,” Barnett said. “For most of the past 12 years, decisions around education funding have been stuck in court. We need to end this cycle. We cannot make the necessary changes we need in education if we are constantly arguing in front of a judge. We should be working together for the changes and innovations that will help our children get ahead.”
“The court has clearly marked school finance as inequitable and inadequate. But while more money in the system will be needed, there are many areas where more money is not the solution,” Barnett stated.
A key concern is that the Court used what are known as “the Rose Capacities” as part of their decision. These capacities stem from court decisions in Kentucky in 1989. They were never meant to be standards, but are now called that in Kansas. According to Barnett, “the Rose Capacities are not bad, they are just not good enough”.
“As the next governor, I will work to bring people together to develop new educational standards that are pertinent to Kansas and that are measurable. We are using 20th century standards when our children need a 21st century education to succeed” Barnett said.
The longterm impact of spending all of our time in court is dangerous. “Sadly, Kansas children will see that our state does not value teachers and young people will not choose education as a career. That is already happening,” Barnett stated.
“C is for Careers,” Barnett stated. “We need to change our focus from the earning and amassing of credits to learning the life skills to build careers. This recognizes the importance of work force development as one of the engines needed for our economic growth.”
“We are 6 to 10 years behind in developing the work force we need in Kansas today,” Barnett said. “There are jobs going unfilled in Kansas right now because we have not helped our citizens get the skills necessary to do them.”
“The notion that everyone needs a four year college degree to have a productive life is wrong,” Barnett said. “People can obtain a good education in our Community and Technical Colleges. They can get high paying jobs that provide for their families and help grow the Kansas economy. We should be teaching skills like computer coding in elementary school and it should be fun. We should be encouraging life-long technical learning to help Kansans keep up with changes in their occupation and with technology in general.”
“Kansas must commit to making post-secondary education affordable to all Kansans. We cannot become a user pay state where only the wealthy can afford higher education,” Barnett said.
“My ABCs of reform are the building blocks of improving education in Kansas,” said Barnett. “They will make a difference for students in our school system now, and for decades to come.”
This tour will have stops at schools in Topeka, Emporia, Wellington and Winfield, as well as Arkansas City and Coffeyville. While these locations are the first to be visited, Barnett plans to visit a multitude of other districts during the campaign.
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